Germany rejects asylum request of 387 Azerbaijani citizens

The number of Azerbaijani citizens seeking asylum in Germany rose amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said in response to the inquiry of Report's Eastern European Bureau.

According to the information, in the first seven months of 2023, BAMF reviewed 1016 asylum applications of citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Of them, 852 are first-time and 164 are second-time applicants. Most of the applicants are citizens of Azerbaijan residing in Ukraine.

Only 28 asylum seekers were granted refugee status under the Geneva Convention. The asylum applications of 387 people were rejected, and a decision was made to return them to their country of citizenship.

BAMF reported that a total of 188,967 people applied for asylum in Germany in January-July 2023 (175,272 initial and 13,695 subsequent applications). Compared to the same period last year (98,395 initial applications), this means an increase of 78.1%. In 2023, 13,808 of the initial applications were related to children under one year of age in Germany.